Lullaby
by Matenit
Summary: Sapphire's knowledge of human children began and ended at nothing, so what was she supposed to do with a crying baby?


Usually, Steven was able to fall asleep immediately, the little tyke tiring himself from a full day of Gem antics, and sleeping well through the night. Usually, he was a well behaved child, with his voice barely ever raising above a laugh and his face almost always lit up with a smile. Usually, he was nothing more than what the Gems could handle. Usually.

This was not one of those times.

What had set him off, Sapphire didn't know. Perhaps he was just cranky, or was scared in the few minutes she had left him to speak with Pearl. But either way, he was absolutely bawling when she walked back into the room. Immediately, she had checked for signs of danger, maybe something she had missed slipping into the nursery, but her search was fruitless. Her presence didn't seem to calm him either, even when she picked him up from the crib and tried gently rocking him in her arms.

Sapphire's mass knowledge of human children began and ended at nothing, her intellect mostly gathered from parenting books Greg and Pearl had bought in the early days of Rose's pregnancy. Those were mostly filled with precautions of raising a baby, such as keeping everything potentially harmful up on the top shelf and constant monitoring of the child. Nearly nothing had covered what to do in this exact situation, and it would even be easier if he was choking on a penny rather than crying his eyes out. Sapphire bit her lip nervously.

Rocking him back and forth didn't seem to have much of an effect on Steven, if anything, making it worse. So she took a seating on the plastic fold out chair the Gems had put in his nursery. Really, it was a mess, his entire room; half of the possessions were the usual baby supplies, like a crib, a dressing table, and a full stock of diapers and pajamas. The other half was like they had pulled it from a garage sale at random; her folding chair, a lamp without its shade, even the stuffed animals they had piled in a corner was a wide array of aliens, dolls, and pets. They were still amateurs in the many months since they had taken the boy into their care. But Sapphire could proudly say she was the one who had immediately bonded with Steven, and he had taken a liking to her as well.

The other Crystal Gems almost seemed alienated to the little baby, but they still tried their best to be good parental figures to him. They played with Steven, spent time with him every day, and took turns looking after him, yet the concept of it was still a foreign topic to them. Out of all, she would have to say Ruby had the hardest time around Steven. It wasn't that she didn't like him, more along the lines of she had no idea how to act around the baby. Ruby was rough and rowdy by nature, and she couldn't exactly wrestle with a fragile human child. Anything too harsh and it would send him straight to tears, so most of her time was spent awkwardly standing around him more than anything. Sapphire almost worried that Steven would get the idea Ruby didn't want to be around him, but there wasn't much she could really do about it other than give advice on how to keep his head up when Ruby tried holding him.

Almost like Ruby was able to tell when she was being talked about, the little red Gem burst into the room, looking concerned.

"I heard crying, is everything okay?" She blurted out, running over to Sapphire's side. "Is he hurt?"

Sapphire shook her head. "I don't know why he's crying."

"Oh." Ruby suddenly went still. If there wasn't an issue that could be dealt with physically, it was already out of her area of expertise. It was strange for the rather emotionally controlled girl.

Another loud wave of sobs came from Steven, and she seemed to unfreeze. "Can you fix him?" She asked, laying a hand on Sapphire's shoulder gently.

"I can't think of what I can do." Sapphire hummed, trying to hold him closer to her chest, but he immediately began pushing away. "I don't know what's bothering him, so I don't know how to stop it."

Ruby stayed silent for a minute, seemingly wondering what to do.

"Have you tried rocking him?" The other Gem nodded, keeping her eyes focused on Steven.

"What about talking to him?" Oh. That might work.

Sapphire tried cooing nonsense words with overlapping 'cute's and 'little's, and at first, it seemed to do the trick. Steven's cries slowed somewhat, and his eyes looked up into Sapphire's own. Ruby gave a sigh of relief, and reached down to pat Steven on the head.

A bad move.

Almost before her hand came into contact, his shrieks built back up to a roar, and Ruby flinched backwards.

"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry Sapphire, I didn't mean to- I wouldn't think he'd- oh, I'm so _stupid_ ," She rambled on, hands gripping her hair in distress. Sapphire just gave a small smile.

"Its fine, Ruby." She reassured her partner, hoping her tone was gentle enough. Sometimes, in bad situations, Ruby would have a breakdown when the stress got too high. Sapphire feared that this would be one of those times. When it happened, she went into a complete sobbing mess, and Sapphire was worried about how she would deal with two crying children. Fortunately, Sapphire was usually able to get Ruby back to a coherent state by- oh. That might actually work.

Sapphire began humming a tune that came naturally to her. It had no words, nor an intricate rhythm, but the simple song had worked on many before. As her voice rose, she noticed Ruby had gone silent from behind her, no longer rambling out apologies, and even Steven's wails were beginning to soften. She tucked the baby into her arms, and closed her eyes, letting herself succumb to the song. It spilt from her lips without her even thinking about her, her mind already engrained with each beat. She couldn't remember where she had first heard it, or if she had made it up herself, but it was still as comforting to her as she thought others found it.

She could feel Steven's earlier writhing had slowed down to a stop in her arms, and she could no longer hear his cries. Still, she kept her eyes shut, and kept singing. By now, it was the only thing she could hear, her voice bouncing off the walls of the small nursery. Even Ruby, who she would have assumed gotten up, made not a sound. It was almost peaceful.

Sapphire didn't know how long her song was, or when Steven had fallen asleep, but when she felt Ruby's hand on her shoulder, she stopped in question.

"So, it works on him too, huh?" Ruby joked, leaning over Sapphire's chair to watch the tiny child sleep soundly in the Gem's arms. Sapphire chuckled.

"I guess so." She rose from her chair, being careful to move as slowly as possible, as to not wake him up again. Gently, she laid the baby in his crib, and luckily, he did not stir. Hopefully it would stay the same for the rest of the night. She watched him for a minute, taking in just how much had changed over the course of a few years. Gone was their noble leader that had led them into battle, replaced instead with a human child with nothing but her gem to show he was even hers. Nothing would be the same, ever again, and it would probably just get even harder from here on out.

Her musings were broken by a cough from Ruby, and she shook her head softly. "Can you believe all that's happened?" She asked her as she walked over to her. "That Rose would be gone? That we would have to raise a human child? All of it is so strange to me…"

Ruby stayed silent for a minute. "Do you regret it?" She asked shortly, hand coming up to grasp Sapphire's shoulder. The other Gem took a long look at Steven's sleeping face, before smiling gently.

"No."


End file.
